from under the sea
by supportingcharacters
Summary: Shiganshina Marine Research Lab makes history when they discover and capture a live merman for the first time in history. Eren Jäger, a marine biologist at the lab, should be delighted; but he quickly realizes that this merman is not just some lab rat; he's a person. And when he begins to feel sympathetic for the merman trapped in the tank, things begin to go downhill.
1. Chapter 1

Eren munched down his cereal, reaching for the remote and turning the kitchen TV on. When he was greeted with his own smiling face staring back at him on the screen, he almost choked on his cornflakes.

That would be one for the newspapers. _World famous scientist killed by his breakfast._

Taking a drink of his coffee, he turned his attention back to the TV screen. Of course, it was a broadcast about the merman. A child would have guessed that; since their discovery, the scientists from the Shiganshina Marine Research Lab had exploded over the media. And of course, they were only ever talking about the merman.

It was a news piece playing on the TV. He could hear the reporter's voiceover while clips from their press conference were shown. And then the reporter stopped speaking, and the audio from the clip came in.

"I think the biggest question we all have is how did you find it?"

Hanji sat in the middle with their arms crossed. "Eren was the first to spot it, d'you wanna take this question?"

He watched himself shift uncomfortably on screen, cringing at his awkwardness. Eren had no problem speaking to a crowd, but when twenty cameras and microphones were shoved in his face, he never knew where to look. At least by now, he was a little more relaxed around them.

"It was really just luck," he admitted. "We were in the right place at the right time. After the storm on Thursday evening, we went out in the boat. A lot of times after storms, animals can be injured, or they can wash over in places they usually wouldn't be. And the weather had been really bad the week before; we were hoping to come across something that wouldn't usually be in the area."

"I bet you got more than you bargained for."

TV Eren laughed. "Yeah! I looked overboard into the water, and I saw it floating a few feet underneath the water. It was…sleeping, I think? Or knocked out, Hanji noticed it had a head wound later. I called the others over, and after the initial shock, we got out the nets to capture it."

Eren grimaced as he ate another spoonful. If he remembered correctly, the next question had been a tricky one.

"Is it true that you used a tranquilizer dart to sedate it?"

He watched with a frown as the TV Eren hesitated, trying to think of an answer. You always had to be careful around areas like this; a wrong word and you would have animal rights activists yelling at you from every corner. A drama like that would more than likely stop the flow of financial funding that had suddenly come flooding in, Nile had warned him before the conference. Of course, Eren hated that thought anyway; he never would hurt an animal unless absolutely necessary, or for its own good.

In the end, Hanji took the question. "During the capture, it woke up and began struggling. At this point, we could see that it was already severely injured, and we feared that if it continued to struggle, it would only do more harm than good. We did sedate it, yes, but that was to protect it."

The audience hummed with quiet talk at the answer, and the reporter's voice cut in again, just as the TV screen went blank.

"That must be the fifth time you've watched that press conference," said Mikasa, putting the remote back on the counter. "I don't understand why you keep watching it."

Eren grinned. "Good morning to you, too, Mikasa." Mikasa rolled her eyes, grabbing a bowl and the box of cornflakes.

"I don't know, it's weird, I guess. I mean, all of a sudden the world is talking about us, and everywhere you look there's a story about us."

Mikasa nodded. "That's good, though, isn't it? I mean, everyone and their grandma knows your name now. And no offense, but there aren't many marine biologists like that."

"Mm, I guess so. Like, I am really glad about the whole thing, y'know? We've made a huge discovery, and now we've much more funding than we had, and we're going to have our damn careers cut out for us studying these now, but. I don't know. I just don't like going to the lab and having cameras and microphones shoved into my face."

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. "Eren," she said. "I don't think you realize how big this is. I mean, nearly everyone has grown up hearing about mermaids. But nobody ever really thought that they existed. And you guys proved they did. At first everyone thought it was just another hoax, but it wasn't. You've proven that mermaids exist. That's like, I don't know, capturing a dragon and proving to the world that dragons exist."

Eren snorted. "I think you've been watching too much _Game of Thrones_, Mikasa."

"Oh shut up, you like it way more than I do. Point is, that this is _huge_. People are bound to be excited."

"Yeah. I guess."

The problem was that Eren was worried. They had been under scrutiny for the last week. Labs all over the country wanted to study their merman now, but at the moment, they were allowed study him alone. Rival groups were all waiting for them to slip up, waiting for a chance to steal the opportunity away from them. And there was more, too; the sea was crawling with boats these days, around the area where Eren had spotted him first, all hoping to catch their own. It was disrupting the normal sea life, something none of them were happy about.

Still. One day at a time.

"Hey, Jäger, hurry up and finish your gross dry cereal before you're late for work."

"Alright, _mom_."

Mikasa rolled her eyes, but she was smiling too. She was a cop working at the local station now, and while some people might laugh at him for still living with his sister at twenty-six years of age, he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Later, sis."

"Later, Eren. Don't let the merman bite."

"Shut up."

"Hey, Armin."

"Eren! Hey! Guess what – our boy is stirring."

"What, really?"

"Mmhmm." The blond nodded enthusiastically, dropping a book on Eren's desk. "I mean, those were some nasty injuries he got. He's barely moved since we got him, but Hanji has more or less treated his wounds. When I came in, you should have seen them – they were so excited. He was twitching and moving a little, and they think he might wake up!"

"About time – everyone's been pressing for details since we caught him. Remind me again why we didn't wake up sleeping beauty before?"

His childhood friend whacked the back of his head. "You know why – he wasn't asleep, he was _unconscious_. Besides, Hanji doesn't want to do too much without trying to communicate with it first."

Eren was not a patient person. He had been dying to get to work on the merman for the last week. "Why?" he whined. "If they could fucking communicate with humans, don't you think they would have done it in the past?"

"Maybe they did." Armin gave a shrug. "In history there have always been sailors who spoke about encounters with mermaids before. That's how the myths began, after all."

"Yeah, but, if they spoke to sailors hundreds of years ago, how come they haven't spoken to humans since?" Eren asked with a frown.

Armin gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I dunno. Maybe something happened? Maybe they decided they didn't like humans anymore. But he speaks, if he can communicate with us, that'll make things so much easier!"

They were interrupted by Hanji, who practically bounced into the room.

"Morning, boys!" they said, moving to perch on Eren's desk. They were followed by Nile, who as per usual for this time of the morning looked half asleep.

"Okay, so here's the plan." Hanji clapped their hands together, eyes flickering between the three of them. "As usual, Nile is going to be the research leader, but for this morning I'm in charge, because I'm the only one who has examined our guest so far."

"He's not our guest," Nile grumbled in the corner.

Nile Dawk was the oldest out of the four of them. He had a strange personality; sometimes Eren enjoyed his company and sometimes he wished for nothing more than to break his damn nose. Although he was good at what he did, he tended to look at things from purely a scientific point of view. Sometimes, Eren just couldn't agree with his methods.

Hanji, on the other hand, was his polar opposite. Although they were outstanding in their field, they always put the safety and interests of the animals they were studying first. They were always bright eyed and bushy tailed, so to speak, and seemed to bound about the lab bursting with energy, no matter what.

Armin was the other person in the room, and Eren had known him since they were kids. He was a genius, basically; their professors in college had often said that if he got some experience, and gave it a few years, that he would go far in the field. As well as being a natural genius, Armin always had a thirst for knowledge and a love of the ocean.

Eren meanwhile? He was here because he adored the ocean, and everything in it. Eren wasn't a patient person, and he had no time for a lot of things, but he had always loved learning about the ocean and what was in it. Probably why he ended up becoming a marine biologist in the first place – his mother had always encouraged him to do what he loved, when he could.

The Shiganshina Marine Research Lab wasn't huge by any stretch of the imagination. The four of them accounted for the ichthyologists and marine mammalogists. Usually they were so busy that Eren didn't see much of the scientists working in the other fields. He didn't mind too much, though; with the exception of Nile, he got along great with his co-workers.

"So, the main thing I want to go over before we go in is safety," Hanji began. "We saw him struggle on the day of the capture; he can definitely move fast, and he was definitely scared then. When he wakes up, there's no telling how he'll react, and he could be dangerous."

"It's a fish in a tank," Nile cut in. "I doubt he's all that dangerous."

Hanji rolled their eyes. "I disagree, _Nile_. I helped patch up some of his injuries; I got a close up of his body. His teeth and nails are way sharper than a human's. I wouldn't be surprised if they used them to hunt. Their skeletal structure is different too; their shoulders and elbows are far sharper. Ever been elbowed in the face before? Imagine that, four times as bad. And he's _fast_."

"How do you know he's fast?" Eren piped up. "I mean, we only saw him conscious for a few minutes, and he didn't exactly do a lot of moving during that time."

Hanji gave him a smile, their eyes beginning to light up. Well, they always were enthusiastic, in any case. "Again, his skeletal structure is fascinating! It's very similar to a human's, but different in subtle ways. His upper body doesn't have that much muscle; in fact, he's quite thin around the shoulder area. Instead, his whole upper body is…streamlined, almost; he's made to be a fast swimmer. And his tail…it has a lot of power in it, I'd say. There's definitely enough muscle there to make up for the lack of it in his upper body! It'd say it's the propeller force that allows them to swim quickly. I'd love to get a scan of his muscular structure, but I've been too afraid to do anything extreme just yet, in ca-"

"Hanji," Nile interrupted. "Did you find out what his injuries were from?"

The excited expression on their face faltered. "I have my suspicions," was all they said.

"Anyway – this morning we'll try and keep it simple. No doubt it's very frightened; and at the moment it's still quite weak. But keep your guard up, don't underestimate it. Today, we're just going to try and communicate with it. Any questions? Nope? Then let's go!"

They filtered into the next room, nicknamed the tank room, by Hanji. It was as the name might suggest; filled with tanks. Tanks which usually housed a number of sea creatures. The other room was kept to keep the things they couldn't risk getting wet; files, books, computers, personal belongings.

The merman was in the tank at the far back. It was the largest tank they had. It still wasn't huge, but now that they had more funding, Hanji was trying to persuade Nile to get a bigger one installed.

The top of the tank could be opened or closed, depending on what creature lay inside. The lid was divided almost like quarters, so you could have it partially opened, instead of opening the whole thing.

He was lying at the bottom of the tank, tail curled up around him. It was sleek and powerful, with grey-green scales running up the length of it. Pale skin turned into scales around the place where a human bellybutton would be, and ran down the length of the tail until the fin at the bottom of it.

He was far from the Little Mermaid, Eren could see. Even from here he could notice the small differences in the skeletal structure of his upper body; Hanji was right; he was more streamlined, formed differently than humans were. His neck was a little longer than the average humans, and there were gills set into it. The markings were strange, too; black and gold patterns crisscrossed up his arms and across the top of his chest. In some place there were swirls and whorls that looked like something from a Celtic pattern, in other they almost looked like a made up language.

The hair was a bit of a surprise, too. It floated around his head, partially obscuring his face from view. "I thought mermaids had long hair," Eren commented. "His looks like a damn undercut, or something."

"This isn't Disney," Armin muttered beside him.

And of course, it was impossible to miss the jagged cuts along one of his shoulders and along one side of his body. Hanji and done their best to stitch them up, but they had been afraid of doing anything extreme.

He had been in here before, he had seen the merman plenty of times, but he had always been still; lying almost motionlessly. Now he was stirring and shifting, making little movements and twitching. At one point, his entire tail flicked out, and Eren was taken aback by the amount of grace in a single movement.

Hanji typed in the passcode, and opened one of the four lids on the tank, sliding it back. They climbed down again, typed in a different passcode and fiddled with one of the dials set into the control pad. "I'm changing the temperature," they said. "It might help him wake up a little quicker.

They climbed back up the steps on the side of the tank, letting them look in from above. Nile joined them, but Eren and Armin stayed where they were.

After a moment or two, the merman's eyes opened.

Once. Blink. Twice. Another blink. Third time.

They snapped open, wide, and he moved quickly, immediately off of the floor of the tank.

His eyes were different too, Eren noticed. The pupils were much bigger than humans, although he could still see a hazel iris around it.

He stared through the glass right back at Eren, gaze flitting like a cornered animals to Armin, and then to Hanji and Nile, before repeating.

It flicked its tail, and it moved quickly through the water, trying to put as much space between them as it could before his back hit the glass. That seemed to frighten him even more, and he whirled around, hands coming up to push at it like he didn't think it was real.

Eren pitied him, a little.

"Sssh," Hanji whispered, making comforting noises as they raised their palms. "It's alright; we're not here to hurt you."

He opened his mouth, and let out a strange hissing noise, almost like a cats. Eren was surprised they could hear it through the water. He caught sight of sharp teeth and a pointed tongue.

Nile crouched down beside the edge of the tank. "Stop that," he said, using a sterner voice. He raised his own hands. "We're not here to hurt you."

This seemed to infuriate him even more. With a powerful flick of his tail, he darted to the other side of the tank, coming up until his head broke the surface. He was as far away from Nile and Hanji as he could get while still above the surface.

His hair was plastered to his forehead, his eyes were narrowed and face set into a snarl. He opened his mouth and hissed again, the sound much louder than before. It was like running nails across a chalkboard; the sound was irritating and sent shivers running down Eren's spine.

"Listen," Nile said slowly. Eren wondered if their attempts were futile; he looked like a human, his top half, at least, but it didn't mean he could understand them. "We don't mean any harm. We just want to learn – _learn_. We're not going to hurt you, okay?"

He slowly extended his arm, palm out, as if offering a handshake. The merman's eyes focused on the hand, his expression softening slightly and to Eren's disbelief he began to raise his own out of the water. He was moving it slowly towards Nile's, still cautious. Nile grinned and Hanji made a noise of excitement.

The merman's own expression hardened into a wry smile, and suddenly he darted forward. Hanji had been right – he was quick. His sharp nails dug into the skin just below Nile's elbow and dragged down, opening cuts right along his arm before darting back into the water. Nile cursed and stumbled back, and probably would have fallen if Hanji hadn't grabbed his shoulder.

"Shit – that hurts!"

Eren looked at Armin, wide eyed. "This definitely isn't Disney," he said.

Eren wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but for the merman to make an _attack_ like that? He certainly hadn't been expecting that. He rushed to help Nile down, and Hanji quickly closed the lid of the tank, their expression grim.

Nile had been sent to see a doctor. Basic first aid wouldn't cover it, it seemed. Hanji had said that he would need stitches, and although they were fine with stitching up animals, they would prefer Nile to get medical attention from a proper doctor.

They had sent Armin and Eren out of the tank room after, saying that perhaps the merman might relax more with less people in the room. They stayed in there for almost the entire morning. Eren was grateful, to be honest; he was sick of mermaids. Plus, he finally found a moment to work on the report about dolphins he was putting together.

It wasn't until around lunchtime that he went in.

Hanji was in a chair opposite the tank, barely blinking, holding a clipboard and pen.

"Hanji."

"Eren! I told you to stay out of here!"

"You need to get some lunch. It's been hours since you've last eaten, you won't be able to concentrate!"

Armin's words. Eren hadn't even noticed, until Armin told him to go in. "Of course you didn't notice," the blond had said. "But I'm working on an important report right now, so I need you to go in and force them to take a break instead of me."

"Thanks for the concern, Eren, but I'm fi-"

Their stomach rumbled.

"Maybe you're right. Will you take over for me?"

Eren's mind was still on dolphins, but for Hanji's sake he nodded. "Sure. What are you going?"

Hanji sighed. "Not a whole lot. I'm trying to observe him; note any habits or anything unusual he does, to see if he tries to communicate, and make notes of it."

"Has he done anything much?"

"Not a whole lot. Swam around, mostly. Banged the glass, I think he was trying to break it. At one point he started using his tail to try and smash it. For a minute there, I thought he would."

"It's that powerful, huh?"

"Mm. I'd love to see how it reacts to different stimuli, I can't wait to-"

"Hanji?"

"Yeah?"

"Food."

"Oh. Right. Later."

With that, they bustled out of the room, and Eren sat in their chair.

The merman was curled up in one of the corners.

Eren tried to put himself in his position. It must be tough, he knew. To be taken from your natural surroundings while injured, and waking up in a strange place with strange people gawking at you. Still – even if he didn't like Nile much, he was pissed about what had happened. He had a hunch that the merman had understood what he was saying – after all, the way his expression softened as he slowly raised his hand out of the water? It almost like he had been playing along, trying to trick them.

Dickhead.

Why would he attack when he knew Nile had been trying to be peaceful? Eren scowled. He decided he didn't like this creature very much.

He stood from his chair, moving to the tank and clicking in the passcode. He slid the lid open, and sat on the steps, just out of reach should a merman's hand come scratching.

"Oi," he called, to the dark shape he could make out. "Fishboy. Was that really necessary?"

The merman only glared back. Eren had expected as much. "We really weren't trying to hurt you, you know."

The merman turned his back to Eren, and he found himself getting even more pissed off. "Well, listen, Fishboy, but I'm pretty sure you need to eat. What do you eat?"

Nothing. Eren muttered a curse – it was clear he was trying to help, why wouldn't he co-operate? "Should we just give you fish flakes, or something? Feed you the food we give to pet fish?"

A flick of a long tail, and there was a head breaking the surface. Eren would be lying if he said he hadn't jumped.

"Pet fish? You humans really are barbarians."

It took him a second to realize that _holy shit_, he was talking.

"Holy crap," Eren said, intelligently.

He sounded like a human. It sounded like someone he might pass in the street, or someone who might serve him at Starbucks, or someone he might hear on the radio. But no; that voice was coming from a fucking merman, half fish and half human, which according to the world didn't exist until last week.

It smirked a little, rolling its eyes at Eren's reactions.

"You speak," Eren said, every bit as intelligent as before.

"No shit."

"You _curse_!"

"And you humans are every bit as stupid as I had heard." He sighed, as if he was some fucking martyr, or something.

"Shut it."

"Why? You were so excited about me speaking a minute ago."

"Yeah? I liked you better when you didn't speak."

"Wow. I'm hurt."

"Not as hurt as Nile's arm after your little stunt. Was that seriously necessary?"

He was arguing with a fish in a tank. His life really had changed over the last week.

The merman's expression darkened. "Was that wrong? I don't care – what would you expect me to do? I've been captured by _humans_," he spat the word out like a curse, "and you expect me to sit quietly?"

Eren didn't say anything for a minute. "Well, like it or not, you're here now. But we actually don't want to hurt you-"

"No, you just want to keep me here, away from my family and friends and experiment on me-"

"You're quite good at speaking English. Does all of your kind speak it?"

"Please – half of your languages come from ours."

Despite being the one locked up in a tank, he was surprisingly haughty.

"Well listen, while you're here – which will be quite a long while, you'll need to eat, Fishboy."

"Don't call me that."

"Alright, Fins."

"Don't call me that either." It was satisfying to hear him get pissed off, although the whole scenario was pretty bizarre. From where Eren was sitting, he could almost pretend that he was speaking to another human. He could just about ignore the gills, pretend the markings were weird tattoos. But it wasn't a human; if he looked further down, he would be able to see a fishtail. Yet here he was; squabbling with him.

A part of Eren wondered if he had slipped and hit his head, or something."

"What do you want me to call you, then?"

"I have a name."

"Really? Do share."

The merman scowled. "Jean."

Eren snorted. "Isn't that like, a French name?"

Jean's scowl grew. "It doesn't matter."

"Your mother French or something?"

"No – it was a name I heard one day. French tourists on some boat. Heard it, thought it suited me, and chose it for myself."

Eren was having a hard time processing this. "Wait, so – you chose your own name?"

Jean narrowed his eyes. "All mer do."

Eren's grin grew. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

Jean frowned at him. Eren idly wondered if he would try what he did with Nile, so he slid back a little. "Why? What's _your_ name?"

"Eren."

"Hmph." He gave a haughty laugh. "That's why we choose our own names, when we're old enough; so we're not stuck with ridiculous names our mothers chose for life."

"Don't talk shit about my mother."

Silence.

Jean looked slightly taken aback by the change in Eren's voice, but he tucked the information away, smile turning sly. Yep, Eren had been right in his first judgment. He really didn't like him.

"Listen Fishboy, Jean, whatever. I'll ask you once more. What do you eat?"

"Humans."

Eren froze, eyes widening as he looked down at Jean. Jean jolted forward a little, snapping his teeth.

"Idiot."

The little knot of fear was disappeared, and Eren scowled.

"Fish. We eat fish."

"Cannibals, eh?"

That angered Jean. He moved forward again, brows knotting together. "No we're not!" He was awfully defensive, Eren noted. "You humans eat land animals all the time, don't you?"

"I was kidding. Only yanking your tail. Anyway, fish coming up on the menu."

Strangely enough, that seemed to irritate him the most out of what he said. "Don't bother," he spat, voice almost in a growl.

"Whoa." Eren stood up. "What's your problem?"

Not the best question to ask, granted.

Dark eyes glared up at him. "You want to know about us? You want to learn about the mer?"

This was different – this was him actually offering Eren information. He swallowed dryly, nodding. "Yeah."

"Let me tell you something, then. There's a reason we've hidden from you for hundreds of years. All of the mer – we all _hate_ humans."

* * *

self indulgent mer!man au

was kinda iffy about posting it here but it got a good enough response on ao3 so what the hey

this will be multichapter heck ye

personal tumblr is gaaradical  
writing tumblr is suppportingcharacters  
twitter is scharacters


	2. Chapter 2

Eren did not like the merman.

If he had been a human, there was no doubt they wouldn't have gotten along. He was rude – a real asshole, and despite Eren and the others doing their best to help him, he made it blatantly obvious he didn't want their help. They could have been violent with him; they could have kept him locked up in a tiny tank, restrained, or kept him sedated, but instead he had the biggest tank to himself. Did he show any gratitude for that? No.

He had made it painstakingly clear he didn't like humans, and had even threatened them with hostility more than once. After the incident with Nile – he had to get plenty of stitches to fix that cut up – they kept their distance.

He even went to the extent of trying to pull out the stitches Hanji had given him in the wounds along his shoulder. Trying to "rid himself of human filth," or so he had said. Hanji had warned him that pulling them out would do far more damage than good, and in the end they had to restrain him so they could fix him up.

Yeah. Eren really didn't like the merman – or Jean, or –

Whatever.

It came to the stage where he would be so pissed off at him, that he would wish they had never found him. And then the realization would sink in all over again; he was a _merman_. He was an actual, real life, merman, something that was supposed to only exist in mythology and legends. Well, they had proved the world wrong on that matter.

That thought was all it would take for Eren to put aside his negative feelings for him. Sure, he was a real asshole, but he was also fascinating – from the black and gold markings that spiraled up his arms and shoulders, to his skeletal structure. The fact that he could speak was also interesting; he seemed to be as intelligent as any human.

Which led to a whole other series of questions about merpeople; did they have their own languages, and cultures? Did they live together in groups or alone? For all they knew, there could be a mer population similar to the human population, with different cultures and languages and customs. Just thinking about it all would send Eren's enthusiasm skyrocketing.

Whether he wanted to cooperate or not, Jean was the key to a whole new world.

At the moment, he was drifting lazily in his tank, his back to Eren. Eren scowled at him, before turning to Hanji, who was studying one of Jean's skin cells under a microscope. "Do you know where he got those wounds?" he asked, watching him swim in circles, restlessly.

"I'm not sure," Hanji said, moving away from the microscope. "Though I have my suspicions." They pushed their chair back, wiping their bangs out of their eyes. "They were definitely wounds from some form of teeth," they explained. "And from the shape and position of them, they looked strikingly similar to wounds that would be obtained from a shark attack."

Eren looked back at Jean, following the semi-circle of jagged cuts along his body. "A shark attack, huh? I thought merpeople would be all, y'know, pally with everything under the sea."

Hanji raised an eyebrow. "Did you really think that would be the case?"

Eren hesitated. "Not when you think about it, I suppose. I guess…he eats fish, right? So...that makes him – and presumably other merpeople, predators. But they might not be the only predators, right?"

"Right. Unlike humans, they might not be the top of the food chain in the ocean." Hanji pursed their lips, studying him. "Now, if only he was a little more talkative," they said. "Then we could find this sort of thing out. Unfortunately the only time he really spoke was to you that time two weeks ago."

Eren snorted. "Yeah, about how they all hate humans, or something. What would make them hate humans?"

"I lot of things could, I guess. Maybe they've fought with us in the past."

He scoffed. "I doubt there could be some damn "mer versus humans" war without anyone remembering," he commented.

Hanji gave a shrug. "Who knows? What I do know is that the head of the lab is pushing on us for more results. The whole world is waiting for us to release news about him, and so far, we've nothing acceptable for press release."

"We should tell them about Nile's arm," Eren smirked. "That will stop moms all over the planet dressing up their daughters as Ariel."

Hanji grinned. "In any case, we still need to make more communication with it. And I was thinking…"

Eren looked at them suspiciously. "What were you thinking?"

Hanji drummed out a rhythm on the desk with their fingers. "The last time he spoke, he was alone with you. Maybe being crowded by us all is intimidating him? I was thinking we could try that again; if it's just you and him, he might open up again."

"The only reason he spoke last time was because I annoyed him enough," Eren said with a raised eyebrow.

"Then do that again," Hanji said. "It shouldn't be too hard. Will you give it a try?"

Eren squinted into the tank. Jean was on the far side, his eyes watching him suspiciously. Eren attempted a smile, and got a raised eyebrow in return. Eren scowled, moving up the steps before unlocking one part of the hood of the tank.

Looking in from above distorted Jean's shape in the water, and when his head broke the surface Eren jumped. Jean opened his mouth, baring his teeth, and hissed. The noise was like nails on a chalkboard, or the sound of squealing brakes: it sent shivers down Eren's spine. "You need to stop doing that," he muttered.

"Come to let me out?" Jean asked, eyes never leaving Eren. He was tense, as if he was preparing to dive back underwater at any minute.

Eren scoffed. "What do you think?"

Jean scowled back at him. "Let me go," he said, "why are you keeping me here?"

"To study you, obviously."

"Maybe some things aren't meant to be studied. Ever consider that?"

"Nope."

"Of course not. You're a human."

Eren rolled his eyes. The way Jean said human was like he was spitting the worst insult he knew. "Well spotted."

Jean frowned, one arm moving quickly, splashing the water up at Eren. He jumped down a step, but not before the water sprayed across his shirt. _Damn temperamental fish._

Jean looked almost smug. "Are all mermen like you?" Eren asked. "If they are, I never want to see another one again."

"_Mermen_." Jean shook his head.

"Yeah, that's what you're called, right? Mermen and mermaids."

Jean raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so do you call all your human girls _maids_?"

Eren blinked. "Uh, no."

"Exactly."

"Wait, what do you call yourselves then?"

"Just _mer_," Jean said, sounding exasperated. "Mermaid and merman are _human_ terms."

"Oh." Eren ran a hand through his hair – now damp, no thanks to Jean. "What's your problem with humans, anyway?" he asked, irritated already – and he had only been in here for about five minutes.

Jean threw him a dark look. "It's not just _my_ problem."

"Alright, what's the merpe…mer problem with humans?"

A tiny smirk pulled at his lips. "It's not just a mer problem either."

Eren looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean by that?"

Jean gave a shrug, obviously enjoying the fact that he knew more than Eren. "A lot of creatures in the ocean have a grudge against humans," he said. "I can only imagine what the land animals think of you."

Eren frowned, struggling to process that. "Wait, so – you can communicate with other animals?"

If sea creatures could communicate with the mer, and if they had their own thoughts and opinions, that meant that they were a lot more intelligent than they had thought.

"Of course." Jean's tail moved underneath the water gently. "Everything has its own language, if you listen. Humans are just too loud to hear anyone but themselves."

"I didn't realize you were so pretentious."

"It's the truth."

"Wait – I still don't understand; why do…none of you like us? What have we done to you that was so bad?"

"What have you done?" An angry tone was in Jean's voice now. He moved closer to the edge of the tank, his hands coming up to grasp the rim. "You poison us; dumping all of your waste into the water without thinking. You overfish, and ruin the natural system in the ocean. Your pollution is causing the weather to change, which is disrupting _everything_ under the sea. You've dropped those…bombs into our waters, you dump anything you don't want into our waters, and you spill your oil into our waters and kill hundreds of us without even realizing." Eren took another step back, out of reach of an angry Jean. "That's what you're doing," he spat. "You're _killing_ us."

Eren was silent for a moment, stunned by the outburst.

Eren was no fool; he knew about pollution and global warming and oil spillages. Hell, as marine biologists, they had done their best to try and stop that; they could see the effect it was having on underwater creatures. He could remember seeing seagulls, with plastic trapped around their necks, choking them. Looking at Jean, he tried to imagine it; human waste caught around his neck and choking him. Oil covering the scales of his tail, getting trapped in his gills and caught in his throat.

He knew the horrors of the effects of humans on marine life, but it was only beginning to sink in now. He wouldn't have thought that the mer would have been affected by it though; he never even thought of it while wondering what Jean's grudge against humans was. Now though, it seemed obvious.

"We're trying to stop it," he said, after a few moments had passed. "There are campaigns trying to reduce pollution and overfishing, and everything. It's not all humans."

The look on Jean's face told him that he wasn't believed. "If you could see this happening," Eren continued. "Why didn't you warn us? Why didn't you tell us what we were doing before?"

Jean shook his head, shaking his wet hair out of his eyes. "Some of us tried," he said. "Hundreds of years ago, before it all really started. But by then, humans were already…fascinated by us. They never listened, and only tried to capture us, or kill us. We realized that you would never listen, so we didn't try again. And we never showed ourselves to you since."

"Guess you kinda messed that up, right?"

Jean's eyes narrowed, glaring at him before he ducked underwater. Eren caught a glimpse of his long, scaled tail before he was gone, moving along the bottom of the tank into the corner.

"Oi," he called. "I wasn't finished. What – hey, get back here. Jean?"

Jean didn't resurface.

"So, he – or they, if he's telling the truth – resent humans because of the effect we have on the environment."

"That's what it seems like, anyway."

Hanji nodded, scribbling notes on a scrap of paper. "There's a lot we have to learn about him – what did you say his name was again? Jean?" Eren nodded. "I mean, I'm itching to start studying him. And with what he said today – his people, the mer, can communicate with underwater creatures. Which means, as well as the information we could learn about his own people and their culture, we could also learn so much about other marine life!"

Hanji sighed, seeming tired as they leaned back in their chair, their enthusiasm fading. "Of course, none of this information will come easily unless he cooperates."

Eren snorted. "That's going to be difficult," he said. He was nearly as excited about this as Hanji was, but he couldn't see Jean decided to cooperate anytime soon.

"We need to gain his trust. And to do that…we'll need to convince him that not all humans are as bad as he thinks." Hanji tapped their lip thoughtfully. "He seems to like you mo-"

"Oh, trust me, he doesn't like me."

"Well, I don't know why, but he seems to prefer interacting with you more than the rest of us. He's unresponsive to Armin and I, he's plain hostile towards Nile, but twice now he's spoken with you properly. Tomorrow, maybe we should try that again. Try to convince him that we're doing everything we can do right the wrongs we've done."

Eren was skeptical. "I don't know if it will work, he seems pretty stubborn. And headstrong."

"It's worth a try," Hanji said. "Besides, maybe that's why he's more comfortable around you…"

"Huh?"

Hanji winked. "You're very alike."

"Hey! Don't compare me to _him_!"

Nile had tried talking to him, but it hadn't ended well. He had kept his distance, but Jean didn't even try to attack him. He acted even worse with him, though; plain insulting him. And Eren knew from experience: Nile didn't take to insults well.

It was stretching into the evening, and both Armin and Hanji had headed home. Eren was just about to leave, but curiosity had gotten the better of him. It was unusual for Nile to stay late, especially with his obvious dislike of their current study – Jean. He slipped into the lab under the pretense of saying goodbye to Nile.

Jean seemed to be getting restless.

He was swimming up and down the tank as usual, but much more quickly. When Eren came in, he pressed himself up to the glass, fingers drumming on it. His eyes seemed a shade darker than usual. Nile was sitting nearby, scribbling notes.

After a moment, Jean went back to swimming the length of the tank, and Eren it struck Jean that it was rather like a human pacing. Was he nervous about something?

"What's wrong with him?" Eren asked.

Nile jumped. He hadn't heard Eren come in. "No clue. I came in to lock up…and he was like this."

Jean swum up to the edge of the tank, letting his hands rest on the rim. "Let me out," he said, and there was a tremble in his voice. Eren frowned, moving a little closer.

"You okay Jean?" he asked. Jean's eyes flitted to him, and he hissed.

"Whoa," Eren took a step back, hands raised.

"What's gotten into you, brat?" Dawk muttered, moving to the glass. "Why are you so antsy all of a sudden?"

Jean hissed again, his eyes narrowed. "Let me out, Dawk," he said, his voice low. "Now."

Nile smiled wryly. "Keep dreaming, Jean."

Jean banged on the glass. "Let me out!" his voice was rising. He smacked the glass again. "Eren!"

Eren turned at the sound of his name, surprised. "Eren, you have to let me out. I need to get out – _please_!"

Looking at him now, there was almost a gleam of panic in his eyes. The smug, haughty bravado was long gone – he looked almost scared. And not the type of scared he had been when he first woke up in the tank; no, as if he knew something terrible was going to happen.

Nile shook his head. "We should go, Eren. He's just playing up. You go on ahead, I'll lock up."

Eren was surprisingly reluctant to leave. With Jean like this – well, he and Nile already didn't get on. He didn't want to leave them alone together. Then again; Nile was leading this project, he knew what he was doing. Eren turned to leave.

"Eren, _wait_! He won't listen!"

He wasn't used to this; he was used to Jean insulting him, and being a smart ass, and making his hatred of humans known. Now, he was panicked and sounded worried and…scared almost.

He turned again, looking slowly at him. "I can't let you out, Jean," he said slowly. Nile raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh, screw that – is this place near the coast?"

Confused, Eren gave a nod.

"Do people live near the shore?"

Eren nodded again. Shiganshina was a small town, a few miles inland. But much closer to the coast there was a quaint fishing village. It was a popular location this time of year, where families holidayed in the summer sun, enjoying the beaches. "Yes," he said, slowly.

"You need to get them out of there," Jean said. "There's going to be a storm – a big one."

Eren was stunned silent for a moment. "A storm? You can tell?"

Nile snorted. "Nonsense. There's no storm; the weather forecast is for a calm, sunny evening, and a calm, warm night. There won't be a storm; this is all just a ruse."

Jean snarled, turning to Nile. "There's a term, in the mer language that I want to say to you, but I can't seem to remember it in English. Oh, yeah; _go fuck yourself_."

Nile rolled his eyes. "That's it," he said, moving up to the keypad. "I'm shutting you up for the night."

"No! Eren!" Jean pressed his face to the glass. "There's going to be a storm, and it's not going to be a natural one. If you don't let me out, at least get the people out of there!"

"Wait, if you supposedly hate us so much, why are you warning us?"

"Don't fall for it, Eren," Nile said, as he was tapping in the code.

"Because, idiot," Jean said. The hood of the tank was beginning to close, and he had to duck down to avoid getting smacked in the head. "We might not like you, but death is still death."

"Death?"

"Eren, he's just winding you up," Nile snapped. "I'll finish up here."

Eren gave an uneasy apologetic glance towards Jean before leaving.

Mikasa wasn't home yet, he noticed when he got home. He stretched and yawned as he walked into the apartment, flopping down on his side of the couch and turning on the TV. But he couldn't relax: his mind kept replaying what Jean had said.

_"__There's going to be a storm, and it's not going to be a natural one. We might not like you, but death is still death."_

What did it mean – how could he know there was a storm coming from inside a tank? And what did he mean, by it not being a natural one? Death is still death. Surely if it was a storm strong enough to cause death, than meteorologists would have picked up on it. Storms like that didn't come out of the blue.

He pulled out his phone, considering calling Hanji to talk to them about it.

_You're being ridiculous. Relax._

Eren pushed it out of his mind.

A few hours later, he was helping Mikasa wash up. Just like Nile had said, it had been a beautiful, calm evening, with no hint of any bad weather. Eren looked out of the window. From this height, you could just about see the sea from here. The sky was an orange color as the sun began to disappear. All was calm.

Wait.

"Mikasa, do you know where the binoculars are?"

"What do you need binoculars for?"

"Not important, just – where are they?"

"You had them last. I think they're in your room."

Eren darted into his room, rooting through his drawers and his desk until he found them. "Eren?" Mikasa asked, flicking on the radio. Eren ran back to the window, bringing the binoculars to his eyes.

On the radio, a woman was giving the weather report. _"Just in, there's been an unexpected change in the weather out at sea. There's a bad turn coming in, with high winds expected. Meteorologists are advising to stay indoors through the bad weather."_

Sure enough; just along the horizon he could suddenly see dark clouds forming. But these…it looked as if they were appearing out of nowhere, dark specks suddenly forming in the sky. The wind began to pick up; he could see the waves beginning to smash harder into the coast, and the leaves on the trees began to blow.

_There's a storm coming, and it's not going to be a natural one._

"Shit," Eren cursed, whipping his phone out of his pocket and dialing the number for the emergency services.

"Eren? What's wrong?" Mikasa questioned.

"Hello? Hello! Okay, listen, I know this sounds crazy, but see the apparent bad weather coming in? There's going to be a storm, a bad one, a _really_ bad one, and we need to get people off the coastline."

The operator sounded just as confused as Mikasa looked. "W-who is this? And how do you know?"

"I know, okay? Even look yourself; there's a storm whipping up at sea and it's…it's not natural."

"Listen, son, I don't think we can just evacuate people from a village just because someone rang in and told us to. It's just a little bad weather; it'll blow over during the night."

"No – no, please listen, okay? I'm Eren Jaeger-"

"The merman guy?"

"Yes, the merman guy. And do you know what that merman said? Before there was any sign of bad weather, before any of the meteorologists picked up on it, he told me that there was going to be an unnatural, bad storm, and that people were going to die from it. And lo and behold, all of a sudden there's a storm picking up, and unless you want people to die, the people in the village need to be evacuated!"

Thankfully, he seemed to be believed.

There was a long silence before-

"I'll send the message to the authorities. God help us if you're wrong, Mr. Jaeger."

In the end, there was a storm. One of the worst Eren could remember. There weren't many casualties, thank god; by the time the storm struck the coastline, the inhabitants of the fishing village had been evacuated, brought uphill into Shiganshina. However, there had been huge damage of property, and the streets of the village were still flooded. Shiganshina had been untouched – mainly due to the slope rising from the village to the town, and the only casualties were three fishermen who had still been out on the water when the storm hit.

It had been unlike anything Eren had ever seen; from his window, with the binoculars, he had watched massive waves smash the coast, as if they were trying to break it. The wind howled loudly, like someone blowing a whistle in his ear, and several trees had been brought down. The rain fell so strong that it stung his face when he took a step out of the front door. Lightning had lit up the sky, and thunder had rumbled all through the night.

All in all, it had been a miracle that they had managed to evacuate everyone on time. The press was already calling Eren a hero, and they ate up the stories of the new merman predicting the storm and saving lives by warning them.

It had been a terrible storm, out of the blue, and Jean had warned them about it.

Eren wanted to know how.

The next morning he left for work early. He wanted to speak with Jean – alone. Also, leaving quite early would help to avoid the press that would surely be surrounding the lab.

He nodded at the security guard and showed his ID, before heading into the lab. He didn't even stop at his desk; he continued straight into the room with the tanks, unlocking the door, and heading straight over to Jean's tank.

"Shit," Eren cursed, running over to the keypad.

Jean hadn't even noticed he had entered; he was pressing himself up against the top of the tank, neck arched and from the looks of it, struggling to breathe.

When Eren reached the keypad, he cursed again. The hood of the tank had two different settings for closing it; the first being a lighter setting; having the hood closed over, to prevent whatever animal they had inside from jumping out. The second was a stronger type, completely sealing the tank off. Usually they used the first setting with Jean, but when Nile was closing up he must have completely sealed the tank off instead…

Still, it wouldn't completely keep air out of the tank. There was still an air pipe in there…

Unless it had malfunctioned…

Eren slammed the passcode into the keypad, and a part of the hood slid open. Immediately Jean pulled himself up, curling over and heaving over the rim of the tank, gasping for air.

Eren muttered a curse under his breath, moving over to where he was partially hanging over the side. He gingerly placed a hand on Jean's shoulder. He flinched at the contact, but Eren didn't move. His skin was slick; similar to wet human skin, but still a little different.

After a few minutes, when he got his breath back, Eren questioned him.

"What the fuck happened?"

"I don't fucking know!" Jean looked up at him, his breathing not quite back to normal. There was still a glimmer of fear in his eyes, but he seemed to be calming down a little. "Dawk, he closed the tank up differently yesterday, and then a little while ago – I don't know what happened, but suddenly there wasn't enough air!"

"You're part fish! How could you suffocate?"

Jean glared. "I'm not part fish, I'm mer, and I still need oxygen! There's plenty of oxygen in the ocean, but the water in here is dead and full of chemicals!"

Eren could feel his own heartbeat slowing down, the panic fading. "Still. There's an air pipe in there, there should always be plenty of oxygen."

Jean shrugged. "Maybe it's broken! I don't fucking know how these things work. All I know was that a while ago, suddenly there wasn't enough air, and I couldn't breathe properly."

Eren took a step back, dropping his hand from Jean's shoulder.

"You were right," Eren said after a moment. "There was a storm. But we managed to get everyone out in time."

Jean pressed his forehead against the edge of the tank. "I told you."

Eren's lips were dry. He bit on his lower one before continuing. "What did you mean, before? About the storm, it wasn't a natural one?"

Jean raised his head, studying Eren with his piercing stare for a long while before responding. "That wasn't a storm caused by nature," he said slowly, as if waiting for Eren's reaction.

"Then what was it caused by?"

"Use your head, Eren."

The realization finally dawned on Eren – but really, he think he knew the answer the whole time. "The mer caused it," he said, his voice sounding small.

Jean gave a nod. "Either they're fighting among themselves again," he said darkly, looking away. "Or they're looking for me."


End file.
